Mid Century Icons: The Saarinen Womb Chair

Since its launch in 1948, the Womb Chair designed by Eero Saarinen has been always in production and definitely is one of the most known pieces of mid century furniture ever.

The shape of the Womb chair is the result of Saarinen’s experiments with organic shell-type seats for furniture design. Saarinen started his experiment with Charles Eames during the ‘Organic Design in Home Furnishings’competition in 1941 during which they presented the ‘Conversation, Relaxation and Lounging’ trio.

Across the 40s Saarinen moved away from the use of plywood and began to test with synthetic plastics like the glass-fibre that he used for the final version of the Womb Chair.

The frame supported by thin rod legs kept the design light and a slim layer of padding made the seat comfortable enough. One of Saarinen’s biggest concern during the design process of the Womb Chair, was to allow people to seat in different and comfortable positions: his background and expertise as sculptor helped him to create three-dimensional forms to achieve this goal.

In the 50s people began to seat in a way that would have been considered impolite until few years before, so Saarinen decided to create a modern chair to satisfy this new habits.
On the Womb Chair is, in fact, possible to lift the legs comfortably on the ottoman and relax: a modern chair for a modern society with new needs.